We are a private, national foundation that works to expand opportunities in America’s cities through grantmaking and social investing in arts and culture, education, environment, health, human services and community development in Detroit.

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TROY, Mich. – In an open letter, Rip Rapson, president of The Kresge Foundation, discusses ways philanthropy can respond to the volatile and persistently harsh economic climate.

The state of things is precarious and perilous, he writes. And the cumulative impact of high unemployment, the contraction of the public-sector, and political and economic tumult is almost incomprehensible.

Against the background of a still-emerging new economic reality, the foundation aims to strike a balance between responsiveness to today’s challenges and a steadiness in the face of an otherwise unpredictable environment.

The letter outlines Kresge strategies that seek to protect against the kind of harm brought on by economic contraction and policy reconfiguration, and reviews qualities that unify the philanthropy’s work.